Nathanial
Nathanial was given to 33 boys in 2025, #3,487 among boys’ names; 10,578 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,610 Americans named Nathanial and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 22 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nathanial by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nathanial?
#3,487 among boys’ names, 2025
Nathanial fell from #2,514 in 2015 to #3,487 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 26.1 to 19.3 per million.
371 babies in 1999, the peak
Nathanial peaked in 1999, when 371 boys were given it, #546 among boys’ names. The 33 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #3,487 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 30 | #3,757 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 32 | #3,602 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 20 | #4,965 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 32 | #3,553 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 30 | #3,623 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 33 | #3,468 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 35 | #3,280 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 54 | #2,408 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 51 | #2,506 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (120)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 50 | #2,514 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 62 | #2,195 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 86 | #1,720 | 0.05 |
| 2012 | 96 | #1,623 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 129 | #1,325 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 182 | #1,057 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 193 | #1,019 | 0.10 |
| 2008 | 219 | #928 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 264 | #808 | 0.13 |
| 2006 | 297 | #727 | 0.14 |
| 2005 | 286 | #716 | 0.14 |
| 2004 | 295 | #683 | 0.15 |
| 2003 | 327 | #628 | 0.17 |
| 2002 | 307 | #635 | 0.16 |
| 2001 | 292 | #640 | 0.15 |
| 2000 | 341 | #585 | 0.17 |
| 1999 | 371 | #546 | 0.19 |
| 1998 | 369 | #543 | 0.19 |
| 1997 | 340 | #561 | 0.18 |
| 1996 | 275 | #628 | 0.15 |
| 1995 | 311 | #581 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 286 | #616 | 0.15 |
| 1993 | 262 | #640 | 0.13 |
| 1992 | 281 | #615 | 0.14 |
| 1991 | 260 | #630 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 242 | #648 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 216 | #676 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 209 | #655 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 185 | #673 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | 210 | #619 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 217 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 193 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 180 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 200 | #606 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 178 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1980 | 190 | #633 | 0.11 |
| 1979 | 177 | #642 | 0.10 |
| 1978 | 179 | #624 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 124 | #766 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 116 | #775 | 0.07 |
| 1975 | 90 | #877 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 75 | #946 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 44 | #1,247 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 42 | #1,304 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 41 | #1,321 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 39 | #1,345 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 28 | #1,552 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 17 | #2,009 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,100 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 19 | #1,793 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 22 | #1,702 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 20 | #1,836 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 14 | #2,273 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 21 | #1,790 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 14 | #2,304 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 14 | #2,280 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 14 | #2,267 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,757 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 8 | #3,182 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 12 | #2,454 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 15 | #2,109 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,889 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,678 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 14 | #2,126 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,216 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 18 | #1,788 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 13 | #2,191 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,405 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 19 | #1,768 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #3,095 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 7 | #2,915 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,040 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,050 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,875 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #2,600 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 18 | #1,667 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,399 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 16 | #1,793 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,510 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,145 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 17 | #1,742 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 14 | #1,993 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,625 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 16 | #1,898 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,293 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,738 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,163 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,125 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 23 | #1,630 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,643 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 18 | #1,916 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,435 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,366 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,007 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,750 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,023 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 18 | #1,857 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 26 | #1,432 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,790 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,744 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,258 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 21 | #1,332 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,427 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,193 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,490 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,402 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 10 | #929 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,193 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,177 | 0.04 |
| 1880 | 5 | #1,020 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nathanial a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nathanial has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 120 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nathanial: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nathanial, and how old are they?
9,610 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 10,578 Americans ever recorded as Nathanial. The median Nathanial alive today is 30 years old; half are between 22 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 8,361 people named Nathanial (19 women and girls, 8,342 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 9,616 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 41 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 168 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,530 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,230 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 544 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Nathanial born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 6 | #2,386 | 0.6× |
Where Nathanial is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nathanial is most over-represented in Indiana: since 1910 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Nathanial with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 323,763 babies since 1880, Nathanial is the third most given (3.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 33 of their 3,046 babies (1.1%), again the third most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nathanial
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Nathanial and names like it
- Compare Nathanial and NathanielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sNathanial peaked in 1999.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nathanial since 1910.
- The top names of 1999The year the most babies were named Nathanial.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Nathanial alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.